6 Wives of Henry VIII
by QueenAnneTudor
Summary: A one shot loosely based on the randomizer challenge.


1509

Henry knew he needed a wife, a Queen for England. He had once believed he would marry a foreign born princess but he had fallen in love with a niece of one of his closes friends. Kathryn Howard was beautiful and full of life. He loved her from the moment he had seen her across the room.  
"Your Grace." Kathryn dropped to the floor in the most elegant curtesy, staying there until Henry pulled her to her feet kissing her passionately.  
"I love you, my little Kitty." The King's intention to marry a commoner began to spread quickly through London. Some thought it was extremely romantic, while others thought their King was foolish to spurn foreign brides. Others wondered why he would marry a girl of fifteen, but he loved her and she made him smile.

"Henry, my love." She nuzzled up agains the King, her husband the man she loved so much. "I am with child." Her excitement was intoxicating. Henry doted on her during her pregancy. She wanted for nothing.

"Lady Margaret..." Kitty cried out in pain in the dead of night. She was going into labor. She held her stomach as she sobbed. The pain was too much, she just didn't think she could live through it.  
"Your Gr..Majesty.." It was hard for some of her ladies to remember that the King had decided that majesty was more fitting than grace for himself and his queen. Kitty was having a hard time, she felt like she was being ripped in half. She was only sixteen, and very small for her age. The midwife began to worry for her charge. Kitty did not have any issues during the pregnancy, but now her life was in grave danger. Almost fifteen hours from the start of the labor, Kitty delivered of a healthy baby girl.

"She is beautiful, darling." Henry cooed as she cradled his baby girl. The midwife watched the happy couple, her heart breaking. How was she to tell her King that she feared the Queen would never be able to carry another child. Princess Cecily, the beautiful little girl, was the only child of Queen Kathryn Howard and King Henry Tudor. Three failed pregancies after, the couple agreed disolve their marriage with heavy hearts. Henry was devastated, but he needed a son.

1517

Princess Cecily loved playing in the gardens with her mother and younger sister, Kathryn.  
"Cecily." her mother called out to her as she was chasing a butterfly.  
"Mama" She darted up the hill, Kathryn, toddling after her. "My own darling." Kitty smothered her daughter with kisses. She was hugging her tightly, so tight that Cecily could sense something was wrong.  
"Lady Elizabeth, please take Kathryn to her chambers. Lady Mary..." She didn't have to finish her thought before Cecily was scooped up and hurried to her rooms. Kitty broke down in tears.

"Your Majesty, we are here to escort you to the Tower." Charles Brandon sighed inwardly, as he looked at Queen Jane Seymour slowly rising from her chair. She had been Queen for for just over four years. Jane was arrested, along with her brother Thomas on charges of treason. Her trial would be in days, Henry had locked himself in his chambers. It was up to Charles, as his best friend, to try and coax the King out of hiding.  
"Your Majesty. The trial for Lady Jane and Lord Seymour begins tomorrow. As King, you should attend."  
"I don not want to look at that bitch. She tried to kill my beloved, Cecily." Two months after Jane gave birth to another daughter, Mary, Cecily had fallen deathly illl. At first the doctors thought it was just a childhood illness, but when she relapsed only few weeks after she had recovered signs of poisoning were discovered. Henry couldn't believe his beloved wife, would try and kill his current heir. His sweet little girl, the best thing that happened to him.

Jane and Thomas Seymour were executed on April 13, and buried within St Peter Ad Vincula.

"Henry, please listen to me. Jane betrayed you and England, but please don't punish Kathryn and Mary for her crimes."  
"Kitty, I do not know how I allow the the title of princess when their mother is a traitor."  
"Remove them from inheriting the crown, but allow them to keep their titles." She placed her hand on his face as she looked up at him. "Do this for me. For Cecily." Henry nodded before kissing her deeply. She returned the kiss, melting in his arms.  
"I will always love you."  
"Me too" She replied before walking away.

1524

"Anna." Henry screamed as he ran as fast as he could towards Greenwich. "Your Majesty..." Charles grabbed Henry and pulled him back. "The fire is too intense." Henry dropped to his knees, his face stained with tears. Hours went by before he fire had been doused, Queen Anna of Cleves was dead. Her body found under some rubble of her chambers. She wasn't killed by the fire, but had been crushed by falling debris. Henry held her, crying more than he had in his entire life. The mother of his heir, his loving and sweet Queen. After losing Kitty from the sweat in 1519, he never thought he would love that way again. He was wrong, he had loved Anna just as intensely. Queen Anna was buried in Westminster, and the King was heartbroken.

Thomas More looked over at Charles, his eyes showing his disbelief. "Murder, you are saying someone killed our Queen." Charles nodded.  
"It was clear the started outside the castle, and it appears that the doors to the Queen's chambers were blocked from opening."  
"She was trapped inside." Thomas was still struggling with the news. "Who would want to kill our Queen?" The investigation was stressful for all involved, the King had taken to his bed and the physicians were thinking he may die of a broken heart.

"Move. NOW!" The young lady screamed at the guards. "If you do not let me pass, I will have you executed." The guards slowly moved from the door as Mary pushed her way into her brother's chambers. She dropped to her knees, taking her brother's hand in hers. "Henry, please you must talk to me." She was holding back her tears. "Your children need their father. Your country needs their King. I need my brother." Henry pulled his hand from his sister. "Leave me...I want to be alone."  
"No, I will not leave you. I am still here, your children are still here. Do not push us away. Anna and Kathryn would not want you to wither away." Soon Henry was crying, harder than Mary had ever seen. It took a few more days before her finally left his chambers. He rode to Hatfield to see his children. He would have to be strong for his boys, as they now like his daughters had no mother.

It took a while, but finally Charles Brandon and Thomas More discovered Queen Anna was killed due to rumors she was part of the Lutheran faith like her brother. An annoited Queen, mother to the future King murdered for crimes she did not commit. In the end ten men were executed for her death. Their leader Bishop Fisher was burned at the stake, without the aid of gunpowder. It took him over fifteen minutes to die. Henry never turned away from watching the flames. His heart broken.

1528

Henry gave in to his council and married for an alliance with Spain. It had been five years since evil had taken his beloved Anna from him, and now he was waiting for his bride to arrive. She was only eighteen years of age, a year younger than his Cecily. It made him feel strange, like he was marrying a child.

"Katherine..." Henry took her hand, leading her to dance. She smiled at him, but he could see a deep sadness in her eyes. He knew that look, he saw it daily when he would stare at himself in the mirror.  
"Your Majesty." Katherine was clearly shy when the King made it to her chambers on their wedding night. He took her hand and led her to the bed, he could feel her shaking. He sat on the bed, motioning her to sit beside him. Before she knew it he had pulled her to him, hugging her as he head rested on his shoulder.  
"Who did you lose, Katherine?" Shocking her from her tears.  
"Pardon..." She stammered.  
"I can see it your eyes, sweetheart, you loved or still love another very much. I still love my Anna very deeply. I want you to know that. We should have no secrets."  
"My lord...I ..."  
"No secrets." He reiterated as he kissed her on the forehead sweetly.

The next morning Henry called from Thomas More.  
"Thomas, this marriage was a mistake." Henry was straight to the point.  
"Your Majesty, you agreed to the betrothal...you can not..."  
"Quiet. My wife does not love me, and I do not love her. She is younger than Cecily. I should never have agreed to marrying her. I would like to send word to his holiness that this marriage should be dissolved."  
Henry could see that Thomas was questioning the ease of the annullment. "Do not worry, Thomas, the marriage was not consumated. And I have an offer to Spain that they should accept if they care anything about their Infanta."

Less than three months since he wed Katherine, she was no longer his wife. Instead she had married a man she fell in love with on the journey to England. Henry's own young brother, Prince Arthur.

1532

Charles stared at his friend, who was pacing the room. His fifth Queen was in labor, and this time it was supposedly twins if the midwife was to be believed. After his annullment with his now sister-in-law he didn't think he would ever marry again. But his children needed a mother, and he longed to have a woman to call his own. Catherine Parr a twice-widowed woman, he felt he had a kindred spirit. She had no children of her own and her sons adored her. He loved her, not the kind of love he had for Kitty or Anna, but she lit up the room when she entered. And she was intelligent, she made him want to learn more everyday. They weren't even sure they would have children, as they had been married for three years before the twins were conceived.

"Your Majesty, you have a daughter." Lady Anne Boleyn held the little princess, her red hair glimmering in the ray of sun streaming through the outer chambers window. Henry took his daughter in his arms. "Elizabeth, my little jewel." He kissed her on the forehead before handing her back to her Queen's lady.  
"Lady Anne, how fares my wife." Anne wasn't sure how to answer, the Queen was still in labor and the midwife was becoming concerned.  
"Lady Grace, believes the second child will be born soon. The Queen is strong." Henry looked over at Charles, a pained look on his face.  
"Charles, what if I lose her too?" He asked before sinking into a chair by the fire.

"Your majesty, the Queen has delivered a son." Lady Anne showed him his son, before they heard a cry from the Queen's chambers. "Lady Anne, take Edward." Henry then ran past the doors, past his Queen's ladies to her side. He didn't care what they said, he wanted to be with her. Three hours after Edward's birth, Queen Catherine was dead. Henry lost yet another love.

1547

"Anne, my love." Anne grabbed his outreaching hand.  
"Please do not leave me, Henry." As she curled up next to her husband.  
"I love you, my own sweetheart." He said weakly as he kissed her softly. "George, please take your sister back to her chambers. I ..." Henry didn't want her to see him like this. He was dying, he could knew it.

"Mama." Little Charles ran up to his mom, he was only seven years old. The only child of Anne and Henry, his last child. "I want to see papa."  
Anne took him in her arms, holding back her tears. Her husband, the King, was dying.  
"Your Majesty..." Cecily looked at her last step-mother, her face was stained with tears. She had lost her mother and soon she would have no father.  
"Cecily, how..."  
"Your brother wrote to me about my father's injury. My son does not need his mother holding his hand, and France could spare the Queen Mother."  
"Charles, this is your eldest sister, Cecily." Cecily had grown up to look almost identical to her late mother. Cecily and Anne spent the day in the gardens with the rest of Henry's children. Cecily had been the only child of the King's to leave England after marriage. Both Kathryn and Mary wed English lords, as many countries did not want the stain of their mother's treason. Prince Henry was wed to Infanta Maria of Spain, and would soon be crowned King Henry IX of England.

Henry died on a late Summer's day and was buried next to Queen Kathryn Howard at Westminster.

 *** Note in this story Arthur was born in 1502. He is the younger brother this time around.**

 _Mother - Kathryn Howard - died June 15, 1519 of the sweating sickness_

Cecily - Dec 11, 1509

Mother - Jane Seymour - died April 13, 1516 by execution for treason

Kathryn - April 14, 1514  
Mary - February 2, 1517

Mother - Anna of Cleves - died October 9, 1524 by fire set by Bishop Fisher and his followers

Henry - March 12, 1520  
William - August 3, 1521  
Owen - September 23, 1523

M _other - Catherine Parr - died March 29, 1532 of childbed fever_

Elizabeth & Edward - March 29, 1532

 _Mother - Anne Boleyn - died April 12, 1578 of natural causes_

Charles - November 8, 1536

 **Results of the randomizer**

Kathryn Howard - A Daughter - Annulled  
Jane Seymour - Multiple Daughters - Executed  
Anne of Cleaves - Multiple Sons - Murdered  
Katherine of Aragon - No Children - Annulled  
Catherine Parr - Son and Daughter - Childbed Fever  
Anne Boleyn - Son - Survived


End file.
